Misplaced Pages

Root barrier

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Root wall) Underground wall placed to block plant roots
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Root barrier" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (June 2015)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

A root barrier is an underground wall placed to block plant roots. This is often for the purpose of protecting structures or other plants, but root barriers are also used to preserve soil moisture.

Development

Root barriers were developed to stop trees damaging buildings. Concrete was historically a common material but since 1992 plastic root barriers have become more common due to their resistance to cracking caused by soil and moisture movement.

Placement

Root barriers intended to protect structures normally run parallel to the structure at a distance. They typically extend down to a naturally-occurring soil layer which is not penetrable by roots, to prevent the roots growing under the barrier. To avoid endangering trees, root barriers must be placed some distance away from the tree and avoid surrounding it completely.

Applications

Root barriers can be used to protect infrastructure from damage by tree roots below. They are also moisture-proof, which can be useful to preserve buildings on clay soils by preventing moisture escaping laterally. After installation the soil under the building can be rehydrated if necessary.

Root barriers are also used to separate plant roots from each other. In particular, walnut trees secrete the chemical juglone which is toxic to other plants but the use of root barriers can prevent the yield reduction that would normally occur when walnut trees are alley cropped with maize as often occurs in the American Midwest.

References

  1. Application of a new vertical moisture barrier construction method for highway pavements, R. P. Evans, J. C. Holden and J. K. McManus. Published Vol 5, No3, September 1996 Road and Transport Research
  2. Expansive Clay soils and Vegetative influence on shallow foundations, ASCE Geotechnical special publication number 115
  3. "Airspade". Arboraeration.com. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  4. "Allelopathy in black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) alley cropping. I. Spatio-temporal variation in soil juglone in a black walnut-corn (Zea mays L.) alley cropping system in the midwestern USA (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
Stub icon

This horticulture article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: